For Clinton, A Following Of 'Marshans'

Michelle Marshall, a.k.a. Taylor Marsh, in 2002. "Nobody's more in touch with Clinton supporters, except maybe the Clinton campaign," she says. (Www.taylormarsh.com)

She never addresses Clinton's negatives, the right-wingers who would use her as a rallying point, the "likability" issue. The Clinton baggage is secondary to the Clinton dynasty.

"He is the only two-term Democratic president in my lifetime," Marshall said.

Her dual-picture television was simultaneously tuned to CNN and MSNBC in what has become a primary-night ritual with her husband, Mark, who turns on gas meters for a living. (That's how they met -- when he came to hook her up.) But as she celebrated Clinton's win with a loud shout of "She kicked his [butt]! That's what you call a shellacking!" -- she was again forced to consider the cold reality pasted on her television screen.

"If Hillary the fighter would have showed up last year, there's no question, she would have spanked all the boys," she said. "But I never count anyone out until it's over."

In an Obama-McCain matchup, she said she will use her growing power to make the case to scorned Clinton supporters that voting against John McCain is the way to go.

"I'm still on this road," Marshall said. "The only party that will do anything to help people where I come from . . . is the Democratic Party."

On the TV screen, Obama paused from his talk of moving toward victory to praise Hillary Clinton's "courage, her commitment and her perseverance."

"He better do this," Marshall said. "He better do a lot of this."